Matt Walsh on Abortion

Matt Walsh has a nice thread rebutting pro-choice arguments but one section could use cleaning up.

Walsh writes, “The ‘fetus’ is not a person but a potential person.”

What Walsh should have said (and I hope meant to say) is that the fetus is a person WITH potential and NOT a potential person. The latter is not only incorrect but would concede too much to pro-choice argumentation.

If we follow Boethius and define a person as an individual substance with a rational nature, then a human person (not all persons are human) comes into existence at conception. It does not matter if their potential for language-use, self-reflection, etc, is not actualized until later, or ever, because of disability. They are a person, in other words, not in virtue of what they DO, but in virtue of what they ARE, and because of that fact deserve equal protection under the law. How bigoted the opposite position is, and how many atrocities one must accept if embracing that position, including — but to limited to — infanticide; as well, people having more (or less) value based on performance or intelligence.

PS - Let me say I appreciate the work Matt Walsh does in engaging the abortion debate and offer these suggestions to aid conservatives in exposing abortion for the barbaric evil it is. Because the enemy is cunning, precision matters.

PPS - For an extended podcast defending the pro-life position, see here.